1. Field of the Invention
This invention relates to modifying tools and more particularly relates to modifying an interface software template.
2. Description of the Related Art
A hub server is often used to provide computing resources to a plurality of enterprise applications including web-based applications. For example, a hub server may be employed to host a web-based order management application, a data base application, and the like. The computing resources may include database resources, data storage resources, processing resources, and the like.
The hub server may integrate one or more applications on a common platform or across disparate platforms. The integration of the applications may allow the applications to share data, enhancing the usefulness of all applications. In integrating the applications, the hub server may provide the computing resources for applications that are written specifically to interface with the hub server. For example, a transaction processing application may be written specifically to interface with a specified hub server. In addition, the hub server may provide can computing resources for applications that are not written to interface with the hub server. For example, the hub server may provide computing resources to an inventory management system that was written for use with a stand-alone inventory database.
In one embodiment, the hub server organizes computing resources as objects. The objects are referred to herein as business objects. Business objects are objects specifically designed to satisfy needs of one or more business processes. Business objects may comprise transactions or events including one or more functions and employing elements in a data structure, elements of a database schema, or the like. For example, a business object may include business object may include a function to search a database column for a specified identifier, and a function to retrieve a data value from the row of the identifier.
The business objects of the hub server may be named and organized differently from analogous objects of the applications interfacing with the hub server. In addition, business objects may be generic and used to interface with a plurality of applications. For example, a transaction processing application, a financial application, and an inventory management application may each use a generic finished goods inventory business object. The generic finished goods inventory object may include functions that sum data values in a database column.
The hub server may employ an adapter agent to interface with an application. Adapter agents provide prepackaged connectivity that integrates disparate industry-specific and cross-industry computing systems by pulling and uniting information from packaged and custom applications; mainframe systems; technology protocols; databases; and trading partners. The adapter agent may convert generic hub server business objects into objects employed by an application, referred to herein as application objects. Similarly, the adapter agent may convert an application object into a generic business object for use by the hub server. For example, the adapter agent may convert an object that retrieves a finished goods inventory sum value into the generic finished goods business object described above.
The hub server may employ an object discovery agent (“ODA”) to discover the application objects associated with an application. In addition, the ODA may generate a generic business object that is compatible with a discovered application data object. For example, the ODA may communicate with an application to discover the application objects employed by the application. The ODA may further generate equivalent generic business objects, mapping hub server functions and data to the application object functions and data. Thus the ODA may create the business object/application object relationships that allow the adapter agent to interface between the hub server and the application.
Tools have been developed to automate the creation of an ODA and/or an adapter adapter agent. For example, a user may employ an adapter template to create an adapter agent that interfaces a hub server and an application. Tools reduce the time and cost of creating an ODA and/or adapter agent.
Unfortunately, the user may repeatedly make one or more similar customizing entries while using the tools to create a succession of ODAs and/or adapter agents for a particular hub server. For example, the user may repeatedly enter a plurality of customizing entries specific to an application based on software produced by SAP AG of Walldorf, Germany. Although the tools may allow the user to create the ODAs and/or adapter agents more rapidly with fewer coding errors, the tools still do not automate many of the important customizing functions.
From the foregoing discussion, it should be apparent that a need exists for an apparatus, system, and method that modify an interface creation tool. Beneficially, such an apparatus, system, and method would reduce the time and cost of creating an ODA and adapter agent by incorporating common customizing entries into the tool.